The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-10-18
DOW esnRo,s EXPERIMENT.
zsrnancipstion % the Slaves Ezis Eebby--
Pf1ifautFlropIc Intentions . Failure.

Emancipation % the Slaves Ris HeHby~-
Pf,iIauthrOpic Intentions Failure.
Rio Janefro Cor Inter Oeean.l
The emancipation of the slaves has
been the old gentleman's hobby for the
last twenty years, and ne has earnestly
desired to see it accom- Iished before his
death For ffty-three years that ne
hes been on the throne OF Brazil,
longer than any monarch ever reigned
before and no man was ever more IN
terested in accomplishing an object than
be is in releasing the negroes OF BFaz u
from the shaekels which now bind
them
He has a plantation upon which he has
been endeavoring 70 demonstrate Dy
practical experiment that paid labor is
more profitable than slavery. This
plantation was formerly the imperial
residence and is known as Santa Cruz.
IT lies little beyond the city Of
Petropolis, in one of the handsomest To-
cations in the empire and originally be-
longed TO the Jesuits, who obtained 10 50
grant from the Portuguese govern
ment and erected the buildings; but the
old King Jood, the grandfather of the
emperor, confiscated it when ne drove
the Jesuits out Of the country, lived
there and derived an enormous revenue
from the Fazends His son Dom Pedro
] did likewise. The present emperor,
Dom Pedro II, lived there when he was
a boy and after he was married, but his
first and only son died IN the palace,
and IT'S associations are so sad that
neither he nor the empress have entered
the walls for many years.
This is the cross that the old emperor
has to bear but he has devoted this
tn oft Of
the blessings Of liberty to the laboring
men, and il is not his fault that his
DhilanthrOpic experiment has not sue
ceeded. On this plantation ne employs
2, 400 slaves, and treats them in the
most generous and humane manner,
providing them with neat and com
mOdious cabins TO live u, educating
their children, giving them all they
want TO eat and TO wear, and crediting
them with the labor they perform. His
plan mas been that the negroes could
earn their own freedom if they had a
chance, and ne has a system of book
keeping under which each slave is
charged with his original cost and the
expense Of his maintenance, and cred
tied with the amount Of labor he per-
forms When the account balances,
the slave is set free; he has earned his
iOefty.
But like most of the emperor's philsn-
thropic experiments, this has been a
failure The plantation has kept him
poor, and has resulted in securing the /
freedom Of but very few slaves The |
negroes are not fools, and understand
very we'll that they are better off with /
such master than in the condition of /.
freedmen, and they have worked so I'M
proftably and made the expenses of |
their maintenance so large that seldom
has any one of them verearned enough /
during the year to pay for his keeping.
and during the twenty years that the
has patiently kept up this sys- /
tenn it is said to have cost him over
81, 600, 600
The emperor remains constantly at /
oetropolis, and the only thing that can
induce him to come to the city of Rio is
% attend debate on the slavery ques-
lion or some official ceremony.